Anime characters with emotional intelligence aren’t something most fans understand, or at least the ones who talk about anime.
It’s not a common topic in the real world.
What is emotional intelligence? It’s EQ, or:
- Understanding people’s emotions.
- Being intuitive.
- Perceptive.
- Sensitive to emotions.
- Handling your emotions well.
And things of that nature. As opposed to regular IQ which is more about solving “complex” mathematical problems and other things.
Let’s talk about it.
1. Lucy Heartfilia (Fairy Tail)
Lucy Heartfilia is one of the more emotionally aware characters who’s sensitive to people’s feelings, understands them very well, and has a high amount of EQ.
You could say this plays a role in many of the anime’s battles where Lucy is involved.
Related: Lucy Heartfilia Character Analysis
2. Yunyun (Konosuba)
Yunyun isn’t stupid by any means. She’s a smart girl and one with intellect just like Megumin. But the exception is Yunyun is emotional intelligence and can easily pick up on things in this field.
She can be Naive, true, but when it comes to emotions she’s on point and isn’t one to let her emotions stand in the way of common sense.
Unlike Megumin.
3. Marin Kitagawa (My Dress Up Darling)
Marin, the “dress up darling” who loves to cosplay, is an Otaku, and proud of it. She’s also a popular girl in school.
With her romance involving the male MC, Gojo, the anime and Marin provide wholesomeness that few anime can match or compete with.
She’s emotionally aware and has high EQ.
4. Amelia Wil Tesla Seyrun (Slayers)
Amelia might be the type of character from Slayers to preach about Justice, doing noble things, positivity, and other seemingly naive ideas, but in the end, she’s also smart, skilled, observant, and empathetic.
She has the best intentions of almost any character in the industry, and her emotional intelligence is too obvious.
5. Orihime Inoue (Bleach)
Orihime is a very sensitive character in every sense of the word. Her EQ is so high she can even feel empathy for someone who by all counts, doesn’t deserve any.
She’s able to look past the surface and see how a person is truly feeling despite what it seems like.
This makes Orihime kind and caring beyond what is considered normal.
6. Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
Naruto clearly isn’t the brainiest character around. As a kid, he’s a f*cking idiot and dumb as it gets. That’s why he’s loud and always drawing attention to himself.
But when it comes to emotions, perception, and being able to see things others can’t see, Naruto is skilled in this area.
He has good intuition and is intuitive.
7. Nobara Kugisaki (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Nobara, the girl from the village, is one of anime’s darlings from the last few years in the shounen space. She’s a well written JJK female character, she supports gender equality and doesn’t have a “damsel” bone in her body.
She’s perceptive, smart, and knows how to read things that aren’t obvious to the average person.
8. Goku (Dragon Ball Z)
Goku gets a lot of disrespect from Vegeta fanboys, and many think he’s a lot worse as a parent (which there’s an argument for) in the DBZ fandom.
But the fact is Goku is an empathetic character and does have a lot of emotional intelligence for someone who lacks actual intelligence in other areas.
He’s sharp, witty when it counts, and more perceptive than he lets on.
9. Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin)
The wanderer, the Rurouni as he calls himself. Kenshin is a man who fought in the war and slayed many people. To atone for his past, he uses a reverse blade if needed to save others.
He’s not the sharpest tool in the box, though he is fairly intelligent. But his emotional intelligence is where his strength lies.
10. Subaru Natsuki (Re:Zero)
Subaru is a lot of things. He’s what I’d call an ambivert for his ability to extrovert when needed, and go back into his shell when necessary.
He’s good with kids and knows how to socialize and put others’ needs first (which improves over time).
Subaru is just good at reading other people’s emotions and understanding people’s feelings when Emilia, the anime’s heroine, isn’t at the centre of it.
He’s a deep thinker with incomparable amounts of inner strength.
11. Fuu Hou-Ouji (Magic Knight Rayearth)
Fuu is one of the magic knights and the one who represents the colour green, from her eyes to her outfit, sword, and so on.
She’s more gentle, soft-spoken, and feminine than other girls in the anime if you wanna be stereotypical. And her emotions run deep, which can either be a strength or a hindrance depending on how she utilises it.
12. Hachiman Hikigaya (Oregairu)
Hachiman’s “nice guy” speech in the Oregairu series is legendary and is one of the best speeches given in a slice of life anime series.
He’s clearly no fool or a pushover. He doesn’t make friends just so everyone else can think he’s cool, popular, or wanted and needed.
He doesn’t give a fuck.
He does what’s true to him, and that’s part of the reason he’s so frustrated since finding those who are genuine and having genuine relationships is so hard to find. Not to mention it’s a treasure in itself.
13. Chisato (Lycoris Recoil)
Chisato likes to fool around a lot, seems stupid, acts like a lazy twat, and lacks the surface level motivation that Takina has (the anime’s other MC).
But in reality, she’s just say going, laid back, fun, extroverted, and most of all, she knows a LOT more than she lets on.
In this way, she’s similar to characters like Glenn Radars who seem less capable than they really are when it comes down to it. With a high EQ and smarts.
14. Nagomi Wahira (Akiba Maid War)
Nagomi Wahira is the main character in the Akiba Maid War series. A girl who becomes a maid because one day she saw a maid outdoors, and thinks it would be a good job to get into.
Little did she know the business is full of maids who are gangsters, and who are part of bigger gangs fighting for turf, and will assassinate others if needs be.
Nagomi’s mindset somewhat influences and changes those around her, which has a massive impact on the story and the industry in general.
This is in part because of her emotional intellect.
15. Chigusa Sakai (Shakugan No Shana)
The mother of Yuji Sakai, the anime’s main character. Chigusa isn’t the most famous anime mother at all, but she is easily ranked among the best when you analyze her character.
She’s wise, insightful, has strong intuition, and can read people better than a book. But her intentions are pure, and her heart is golden.
It’s her perspective on life that makes Chigusa such a beautiful character.
She deserves an award for the best anime mom.
16. Towa Higurashi (Yashahime)
Towa is arguably the weaker of the three sisters, but that changes over time. What Towa has from the start though that others love, is a sensitivity to other people’s feelings and an emotional understanding the other two sisters lack.
She’s a fair person, and will only harm those who intend to do any harm. She thinks deeply and is clearly a person who’s emotionally driven, which is why her actions are so pure and sincere.
17. Rumia Tingel (Rokudenashi)
Rumia is the adopted sister of Sistine in the anime and light novel series. She’s the one who isn’t too flashy, doesn’t say too much more than she needs to, and is an overall nice person.
Behind this “nice” person is someone whose inner strength, as paraphrased by the anime’s MC, is scary. He puts it like “it’s almost as if she’s always ready to die” when describing her resolve.
She’s the sharpest character in the series when it comes to emotions, matters of the heart, and being able to decipher and see what’s below the surface with so much ease.
18. Yuji Itadori (Jujutsu Kaisen)
Yuji is like Naruto in this way, which is typical of a Shounen-style protagonist. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but his emotional intelligence is something else altogether.
He also has a sense for things in a fight, and can usually pick out odd details that are missing from the average person’s perception and vision.
19. Konori Mii (A Certain Scientific Railgun)
Konori Mii is another female character who can read situations much better than others, and that’s without the need for her esper ability which is X-RAY.
She’s calm, relaxed, and even in tense situations, she doesn’t lose her head or panic. This plays into her strong emotional intelligence and high levels of EQ.
20. Mirajane Strauss (Fairy Tail)
Mirajane Strauss might be the nicest character in Fairy Tail, and for good reason. She’s one of the anime’s strongest as far as guilds go, and since she was cursed by a demon of sorts, she now has the ability to control and become a demon.
This is why most characters don’t get on her bad side.
That aside, Mirajane understands that once a person has been hurt, it makes them want to be nicer to others, which reflects her own life story.
She has a level of kindness only a mother, a sister, or a good wife would have.
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